Here’s what: Generating $5 billion a year in organic growth at P&G. Not an enviable position. But speaking at last week’s MPlanet event, Huston, who is VP Innovation, said that’s what keeps him up at night and (during the day) traveling around the globe…..
At a time when 96% of all new products fail, Larry has changed the R&D model at P&G from one of “not used if not invented here” to “re-applied with pride.”
During his session at the AMA conference last week, Larry explained that management refers to this approach as “Connect and Develop,” meaning a shift from inventing all new products from scratch to developing the inventions from others (for more about the method, see the March 2006 issue of HBR).
For example, the highly successful Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is based on a product found in an Osaka market, and the technology that makes Pringles Prints possible comes from a professor in Bologna, Italy.
The advantage to P&G, he said, is that the company can now benefit from the inventions of as many as 1.5 million of the world’s scientists, compared to just 9,000 of our own.
The result: after just four years of developing and slowly adopting the new model of innovation, the company has moved from just 10% to over 50% of new product inventions coming from outside P&G.
Think about this approach. Could it help improve the success rate and lower the risk of new product develpment at your company?
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Great closing question to your post.
I’m a fan of what Larry Huston is doing over at P&G.
Isn’t it amazing how closed we can become to the innovations and insights of others?
When the truth is that wherever we find an innovative place to stand we are standing on the shoulders of others.
Your post has my mind racing this Monday morning – thank you!!!
Nice observation, Mike:
“When the truth is that wherever we find an innovative place to stand we are standing on the shoulders of others.”
Wish I’d been in that session, Roy. Great lessons therein!